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COVER REVEAL TONIGHT

My apologies again for being somewhat absent as of late. I’ve been super busy, yet somehow found myself feeling like a chicken with its head cut off. I’ll be even busier starting tomorrow (or, er, today?), but the head will be (somehow) reattached. It’s kind of like I’ve been running around aimlessly, trying to get things done while I was waiting for other things to get done, and not actually being productive in the slightest. Now I have a set direction and can get on with it, which seems to pretty much be the only way I can function. Straight lines. I need straight lines to be efficient. Finally got my straight line(s) back.

It’s time to start the big busyness part of time before the release of book two in the Reave Series. (busybusybusy)

Here is what the schedule looks like as of now:

This morning (before bed), I’ll be getting the last copy of book two back.

TONIGHT (after waking up), I WILL HAVE THE COVER/BLURB REVEAL FOR BOOK TWO. Stay tuned for that, folks. I’m kind of in love with this cover. (‘Kind of’ was an under-exaggeration.)

After that, I will start going through the book, which won’t take me long in that form. I’ll make a few last-minute changes (very carefully) wherever necessary, then go through it one more time before starting to format.

Formatting will take up a decent chunk of time, but hopefully that goes as smoothly as the first did.

Then it’s back cover done.

Then it’s checking to ensure it all looks right (formatting-wise).

Then it’s ordering the proof.

Then it’s waiting for the proof to arrive.

Then it’s going through the proof to make sure there are no issues with it.

Then it’s waiting to release (which I don’t suspect I’ll be waiting long for).

I’m going to be trying very hard to get it out on the date I’ve been intending since the initial push-back. Unless there’s some unplanned setback (which is possible), I should be able to make it. I’ll give that date with the big reveal tonight. Please, someone, cross your fingers for me.

(Also, a little end-note: I absolutely HATE writing blurbs. If I hadn’t gotten help on this one, I don’t think I would’ve been even remotely happy with it. I can’t do shoutouts with links to several of the people who helped me, but I can give one to Bitter Ben.)

(Another end-note: Wording in the blurb is subject to change before release, but only minutely.)

I’m kind of excited for this book. (See: Your underexaggeration.) It sounds like so much work, which of course I hope to do someday. I will need some experienced author’s help when I do mine. Of course, by the time I’m ready, you will have had at least 15 books done. Congrats and I can’t wait for the Reave-veal. It’s gonna be epic.

Well since you don’t plan on releasing all of them, you should probably let me read those, cause I am such a nice person right? I mean, you can’t let those not be read by anyone right? It might as well be one of your biggest fans.

LOL, read those older books? PROBABLY not.
I have thought about doing massive edits on them in the hopes of making them releasable, but I just don’t know if it’s possible even with that. I don’t do so well at writing contemporary, unfortunately.

On a totally unrelated note, I watched that video. You sound EXACTLY how I thought you would, which is weird but cool. I meant to text you that earlier, but it took me a long time to get coherent after waking up today.

I think I have older versions of my book before it got changed into what it is becoming now and it was pretty awesome to read how primitive things were. I have changed stuff quite a bit, of course, but reading it just makes me smile knowing how raw and funny some things are that I wrote.

I think it is funny that you watched the video and thought my voice sounded EXACTLY how you thought it would be. I am really bad at imagining voices right. All I know is that mine is really monotone and boring and I hate listening to it when I am recording. People that recorded calls when I was doing telemarketing, always told me that I needed to liven up my voice and I would always say “That is my voice livened up!” I hate that I can’t make it sound more exciting. The curse of the monotone, I guess. BTW, are you still thinking about doing your video Q&A?

I always keep all versions of my books. I don’t really go back through them. (I would probably throw up if I did.) But yeah, I think it’s interesting just taking a look at the most recent draft and the whole ‘primitive’ thing. (That really didn’t make much sense, but I’m sure you get the point. I’m really not entirely awake yet.)
I’m glad you’re happy when going through it. That’s a good thing! Seeing the good parts about it. I always like seeing the bad parts and realizing I could do better now.

Yeah, it really did pretty much sound exactly how I thought it would.
I feel your pain with the monotone thing, but I’m just quiet. People have told me to speak louder, and I’m like, “DO YOU WANT ME TO SCREAM AT YOU?!”
(That’s what I’m thinking in my head, at least.)
Kind of difficult, when Husband has hearing problems. But he talks quietly too, and I’m pretty sure I have hearing problems as well. I sometimes think we can just read each other’s minds anyway.
I actually think your voice is pretty awesome. The monotone thing suits you, and I honestly think it would make you funnier than if you had a really ‘lively voice’. I can totally picture you doing stand up, having a straight face and that voice, and just being hilarious.

I am still thinking about the video. I’m still nervous about it (of course), but I think I might (attempt to) do it anyway. I might say something about it early next week once everything calms down a bit here and I’m in a (hopefully) better headspace. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t have high hopes.
(Never do.)

That is great that you keep them all. I have mine scattered all around on different hard drives and thumb drives. I would just die if I lost any of them. It’s kind of like a journal and another record of how I’ve changed over the years. It’s great to know I’ve gotten at least a little better anyways.
I can’t believe I sound exactly how you thought I would. I’ve always been really bad at guessing. When I met one of my buddies that I play Xbox with, I had heard his voice but never seen what he looked like and I was so totally off. It was crazy.
I’m kind of a mumbler too, so people are always asking me to repeat stuff and I just don’t feel like it. Especially when I say something funny and I try to recreate it. I always mess up. It’s just better to listen for me the first time, because I get off some zingers that even I don’t expect.

Thanks about the voice. I think if I was going to do stand up that would have to be a part of my act. Just play to my strengths I guess. It would be great to do stand up, but I would probably always “forget my lines” and just go off on tangents, etc. I have always been much better at doing things off the cuff than planning things out. Maybe that is why I do so well with blogging and I struggle so mightily with my novel.

Well, I think we have talked the video thing to death. I just think it will be awesome. Can’t wait to see it.

My books, where they’re all at and how they’re organized is PROBABLY the thing I have the most organized.
Herald would definitely be the first thing I grabbed in a fire or something.
I definitely know what you mean by all that. It IS sort of like a record of your life/improvements in a sense.

Do you think it’s easier to put a voice to the face rather than a face to the voice? I think that would be easier.

I like the thought of stand up being more improvised. I think it gives more leeway to play up on specific audiences. But much harder, I would suspect.

I have faith that you will get your novel done, no matter the struggles. (Every faith.)

Haha, yes, I tend to talk a lot of things to death when I get the opportunity to.

By the way, I’m a mumbler too. I don’t know if I said that. I think I said that I talk quietly, but I do mumble a LOT.

Gotta love that ‘final typo check’… >.<
Hate how some always seem to slip through. To my knowledge, at the moment, there are none (I'm sure there's some hiding somewhere), so I'm reluctant to mess with it again. But . . .
Well, sometimes you need to.

LoL, I don't know that I'll ever be happy with any blurb I write, at least for this series. I feel like I can't say anything for it.

I hate writing the blurb. I claim its harder than writing the novel. But overall my process is retardedly slow. I’ll set a target date only to pass it up week after week It’s always, oh, that! and Oops let’s get that while we’re at it and on and on down the rabbit hole. I’m about two weekends away from having my next book up, but I was talking about it back in February. Do you have manuscripts that have been aging? I’ll go back months or years later and want to kick myself for thinking i was done. Last manuscript I took out 30,000 words and this other one I’m in the middle of, I’m slashing like Freddie Krueger.

Oh, I would FULLY agree that writing a blurb is harder than writing the book. I’ve been set on that for years. Seems impossible sometimes.

I’m sorry you have trouble hitting target dates. 😦
Is that for releases or just in general?

So you’re releasing your next one . . . pretty much now?
Mine is coming out in a couple days. I’ve noticed a lot of people having releases right now, on Twitter and the like.
How many does that make for you?
I’m asking a lot of questions at the moment. Sorry!

I do have some aging manuscripts. Some ‘finished’, some unfinished. I go back later and want to kick myself for ever being that horrible at writing…

WOW. I can’t IMAGINE taking that amount out of a book. That’s probably because I tend to add most of the substantial stuff after the first draft.
Whatever works, I say!

This one is my second full novel. Well lets see that’s two novels, two novellas and about 5 short stories all up in one form or another. So far only the one novel has a life of its own, albeit a small life. I then have another one about to go into final editing phase, one with beta readers and another one to be beaten up and then, of course, the one I’m in the middle of, first draft.

My problem is I wrote like 5 first novels, so I don’t have any complete series or even sequels. So in the mad rush to put everything out, I also have to follow up with sequels and trilogies. Luckily I figured out how to split one book into two. It was funny. At exactly the half way point I actually started Book Two as a sub heading and titled it with the title I was going to do for the actual second book. I was like, uh, these are two books in one manuscript, dumb dumb.

Otherwise, I’m meticulous about editing and put them through two or three tiers of it, where all the deadlines just fall apart. But if I don’t keep putting deadlines there, I’m afraid it will never get done.

I can’t imagine having that many finished first novels floating around at once, all needing sequels. I mean, I have a few of them, but I generally try to finish a series at a time. That works for me. Most of the time . . .
That’s funny about the second book. I’m glad you figured that out.
Don’t you love it when you have those ‘. . . . I can’t believe I didn’t realize this sooner,’ moments?

And yes, copious amounts of anxiety. I have severe anxiety anyway and a lot of aspects of this definitely don’t help. I’m fine with the working on the books stuff. It’s all the interacting that sets mine off where work is concerned. (For the most part.)

Yeah it makes me feel like a yo-yo. I kept writing stand alones that could also be sequels in case something got accepted by a New York publisher. Well, its good in the way that in a year or two, I will have several series going.

The anxiety is bad on this stuff. It never seems to end. From hoping you did right by yourself, to readers to sales. I am constantly fretting over some part or another.

I think those ah-hah moments make it all worth it. The best ones are where you find the hidden overtones in your own work that correlate with something else more profound, which you didn’t even know or realize when you wrote it.

Maybe when I have proven sales and a fan base, I’ll stop being a worry wart. I can’t imagine it is anything but newbie-ities. The problem, as I see it, is that you can be a newbie even after 10 years. We need the lifespan of elves to write fiction.

I really think it’s a good idea to have multiple series going at once. I have plans for that (and do have some stuff waiting), but it all just takes time. (Which I am NOT good with, but . . . that’s how it is.)

Yeah, I definitely find myself stressed out about something or other, even when things are going well. That’s how I am in general though, but especially so with book-stuff.

I LOVE THOSE MOMENTS. Where you go back and you really can’t believe that you wrote something without realizing it was in there. I’ve found little hidden things that it took me upwards of five times going through a book to actually find. So awesome . . .

LoL, that’s a nice name for this. And yeah, I’d say that’s probably a lot of it.
What I wouldn’t give for the lifespan of an elf to get all these freaking stories out of my head . . .

(Sorry if this was a bit all over the place. I don’t think I’m entirely awake yet.)

Things do seem to be getting faster for me, though. My first manuscripts were a bear to edit. But stuff I wrote more recently is a lot easier. Proof that I’m improving.

On being stressed out on all this: have you seen this? Neil Gaiman – Inspirational Commencement Speech at the University of the Arts 2012

I recommend watching it right now.

Ray Bradberry said something about his main worry was not for any one story, but that there would be time to tell another one. It seems we writers are all trying to write as many tales as is humanly possible.

I can say this: I would probably be bored out of mind if I didn’t write. Sometimes I wonder if that’s healthy, but then I’m like, who cares, I have a book to write.

Haha, yes, it’s easy to say that. I don’t know that a lot of people realize how much it actually takes to do it. (Or any of this in general.) It takes a lot out of you (not to mention the time . . .).

We’re in the same boat with that. It’s one thing I’m enjoying IMMENSELY – not having to do as much work on the newer ones. Gotta love clear signs of improvement.

I will have to check that video out. Maybe once I’ve caught up on everything for the day. Do you ever feel like you can’t get caught up on anything? I feel that way all the time.
Kind of like what you were saying about the Ray Bradbury thing. I feel like I’ll never be able to get all these stories out of my head!

I would lose my mind if I didn’t write. Yes, of boredom for sure. And probably just in general.

That’s pretty much the way I look at everything.
‘Who cares? I have a book to write!’
I’ve been able to apply it to SO MANY THINGS/SITUATIONS.
XD